Lost Angel: A Nik Kane Alaska Mystery

by Mike Doogan

Book Overview

The icy interior of Alaska is the setting for this breathtaking first mystery from the winner of the Robert L. Fish Award for short fiction. L ost Angelis an astonishing debut novel from Mike Doogan. In the tradition of Nevada Barr and C. J. Box, Doogan explores the darker side of man's nature against the backdrop of stunning natural beauty. Moses Wright founded the Christian commune of Rejoice. The rough-and-tumble interior of Alaska may seem a strange...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0399153713
• ISBN13: 9780399153716
• Release Date: August 2006
• Publisher: Putnam Publishing Group
• Length: 289 Pages
• Weight: 1.12 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.3" x 9.3"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Deceptions and revelations

Nik Kane had been a well respected cop on the Anchorage PD when his life fell apart. One drink too many and the ill considered decision to respond to a call even though he was off duty had cost him everything - his job, his family and his freedom. He was later cleared of all charges but not until he had served seven years in prison. Now he was trying to rebuild his life, not the one he had before but a new one. Barred from his old job Kane began working as a private detective, his first case taking him to the remote, even by Alaska standards, town of Rejoice, a religious community located in the bush. The granddaughter of the founder was missing. Faith, a promising young high school student had not returned from school one afternoon. Her father felt that the local state trooper, the only police officer in a hundred miles, had done much to investigate and so had hired Kane to take over. Once there Kane had to overcome the resistance of the local communities, both the religious Rejoice and the very secular nearby Devil's Toe to ferret out the truth behind Faith's disappearance. His search lead him to many long buried secrets before he found answers, both to the case and his own life. This is the first in a new series of novels featuring Nik Kane, and set in Alaska. As with most first novels of a series a great deal of time is spent establishing the characters and revealing the back story. Even so the plot of LOST ANGEL does not suffer. It is full of twists and turns that will keep the reader guessing until the final pages even though the clues have all been there for the reader to discover along with Nik. The characters are complex and interesting, the setting is exotic (to most readers anyway) and well drawn, leaving this reader at least looking for the second book of the series.

Couldn't put it down!

Fast paced, flawed but essentially decent protagonist, well-written interwoven descriptions about Alaska... Overall, I look forward with anticipation to reading the next Nik Kane mystery. I hope more people take a look at this new mystery writer and enjoy him as much as I did.

An engaging read

Doogan's Lost Angel is a delight. The book was filled with dark humor and suspense. He doesn't break out of the "I'm-a-bachelor-private-detective-with-a-shady-past" mold. But there's a reason every good mystery has a sketchy, skirt-chasing private eye. The setting in Alaska is harsh, strange and authentic; Doogan's family has been in Alaska for generations. If you enjoy mysteries or have an interest in Alaskan fiction, this book is sure to please. I look forward to more stories from Doogan.

Very good first book.

Alaskian Nik Kane, an ex-cop, is trying to put his life together after wrongfully spending almost 7 years in prison. Now released, his former boss, Anchorage Chief of Police Jeffords, is trying to help him by sending him to Rejoice, a religious community. The daughter and granddaughter of the community's leader and founder has disappeared and have asked Kane to find her. But Rejoice's nearest neighbor is Devil's Toe, where the manager of the local gold mine wants Kane to help him prevent a possible payroll robbery. It's up to Kane to uncover the secrets that tie these two communities together. Doogan creates interesting characters, particularly Kane who, although betrayed by the legal system, still believes in the law with investigative instincts and experience. He has a past to overcome and it will be interesting following his course. Although Doogan doesn't utilize the setting as much as I might like, he has still given a good sense of life in Alaska. This is a very good first effort.

absorbing private investigative tale

After spending seven years in prison for a crime he didn't commit, a witness stepped forward and confessed that he took the gun away from the man that Nick Stone shot. Nick's criminal record was legally expunged and the fifty-five years old ex-con is eligible for his pension. He wants his old job, but his boss, Chief of Police of Anchorage, feels it wouldn't be politically correct. Nick's return to civilian life is further devastated when his wife, who stuck by him while he was in prison, demands a divorce insisting they are different people with nothing in common. In Rejoice, a rural Christian community in Alaska, the granddaughter of the founder goes missing. Nick's former boss persuades him to become a private investigator and asks him to find the missing seventeen years old girl, Faith Wright, as the Elders, especially her father, want an outsider who can devote his time to the case. However, someone wants Nick off the investigation as the sleuth is shot at and his apartment torn apart. Nick believes that darks secrets in saintly Rejoice are why they want him gone. Nick obviously got a raw deal when he was framed and did hard time while trying to stay alive amidst those who would cherish killing a cop even an ex cop. That makes him a sympathetic protagonist who has to cope with his freedom and the impossibility of returning to his previous life in spite of the expunging of his criminal record. Mike Doogan writes a clever and absorbing private investigative tale with police procedural trimmings against the backdrop of rural Alaska inside a strong story line mindful of Dana Stabenow. Harriet Klausner